SUMNER – författare

In a daring novel that deftly fuses wild, satiric humor and deeply felt pain, Melanie Sumner tells the story of the Pepperses of Counterpoint, Georgia -- a family that never raises their voices or honks a horn and "avoids discussing sex, politics, and religion, favoring the topic of the weather, which averages seventy-five degrees in Counterpoint year-round." Henry, a stoic businessman, vies for rule of the house with his flamboyant wife, Florida, a pertinacious Baptist and aspiring artist. Together, their clear mission is to protect and guide their children-asthmatic, hormonal Roderick and hell-bent Louise-and keep them well dressed. So when Louise flees the Maude Wilson College for Women to join the Arthur Reese Traveling Show, Henry and Florida will do anything to win her back.

Exotic pests and diseases have long been an important concern in agriculture. The problem is becoming increasingly urgent and complex because agricultural trade has been liberalized worldwide, and as a consequence, the probability of spreading a disease or a pest through national borders has become a real threat, not only for the agricultural industry but also for human health and the natural environment. This edited volume’s list of international contributors reads like a Who’s Who of international agricultural research! This book includes ten interdisciplinary case studies that focus on specific pests or diseases that represent a range of threats to U.S. agriculture, wild lands and the urban landscape, and possible government responses to these threats. Each chapter combines, in an original fashion, biological foundations and implications for the public, giving powerful insights to a series of public policy issues of national and international relevance. In many instances, economic analysis of alternative policies is included. Exotic pest control is discussed in a public good general framework, and under the international regulatory laws comprised by the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Protocol of the WTO.